Lock-lifter for railway automatic couplings.



PATENTED 00:17.23, 1906;

' T. wBLcH.

.LOCK LIFTER FOR RAILWAY AUTOMATIC COUPLINGS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 23. 1906.

THOMAS WItLGIeI, F" PAW PAW, MICHIGAN. LOCK-LIFTER FOR RAILWAYIAUTOMA'TIG No. 833,812.' v

Specification of. Letters Patent.

oou punes.

Patented Oct. 23, 1906 Application filed Feb uary 23, 19 06. Serial No. 302.430.

To all whom it may concern:-

Be it known that I, Tn'oMjAs WELCH, a resi- 1 dent of Paw Paw, in the county of Van Buren and State of Michigan, have invented certain new-anduseful Improvements in Lock--Lift ers for Railway Automatic Couplers; and VI do hereby declare the fiollowing to be a full,

I clear, and' exact description of the invention,

such as will enable other's'skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in l0ck-lifters for railway automatic car-coup,' lings, and more particularly to improvements upon that for which Letters Patent were granted to me April, 1902, and designated by N 0. 697,048, the objects of ny present invention being to simplify and improve the'device to render iteasy of application and at the same time-secure in its connection with the locking-lever of the coupling and the operating crank-shaft and to provide simple and eil'icient adjusting means whereby the device may be readily adapted to the particular car to which it may be applied.

With these objects in' view the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts, as hereinafter .set forth, and pointed out inthc claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating an application of my improvement-s. Fig. .2 is a view in elevation of the lifter. Fig. 3 is a similar view taken at right angles to Fig. 2. Fig. 4' is a bottom plan view of the device. Fig. 5 is a top planview of the same. Fig. 6 is a detail. view illustrating the pin or bolt 14.

1 represents a car-body having an automatic coupling 2 attached thereto. A rockshaft 3, mounted on the end of the carbody, is provided with an arm 4,; connected,

through the medium of my improved lock lifter 6, with the coupler lock-pin 5.

l n constructing the lock-lifterfi I employ a spring 7, bent at its upper end toform an eye 8, which receives a bar 9, having a head 10 at its' upper end'disposed over said eye. The

bar 9 extends down through the coiled spring 7 and is provided at ts lower end with a hook l). The lower hooked end of the bar 9 is'hcveled to l'ar-ililate ils enl'ranrc into the eye of lhe roupling lock-pin 5, and the hook ll is sulliclently longto prevent any possi-,

bility of accidental disconnection from the lock-pin.

The lower end 11 of the coiled spring 7 is bent across the lowest convolution of the latter. A U- shaped bar 12, consisting of a strip of metal bent upon itself, passes through the same, The lower end of this bar, where its members unite, engages the part 11 at the lower end of the spring, and the members of the bar l 2are each provided in their upper portions above the spring with a series of alinedholes 13 to receive in an locking-pin 14 for connecting t e bar with thearm 41 ofthe rock-shaft 3. In this Way the conneetion of the lifter with the rocksha'ft can be adjusted in accordance with the shaft on the particular car to which my improvements may be applied.

of them a '60 the spring 7 and extends some distance above distance between the coupling and the rock I The locking pin or bolt i l-comprises two) parts 14* and 14*, both of semicircular form in cross-section. The member 14c of the bolt is of appreciably greater length than the member Li -to permit its ends to be bent at right angles on the outside of the members of bar 12 for permanently securing the parts together andto hold the shorter member 14 of the bolt against the member 14* thereof and form a cylindrical journal. in. assembling the parts one end of member 14 is bent at right angles and with member 14* is passed through the holes or. bearings 13 in the members'of the bar 12. The other end of the member 14: of the bolt is then bent at .ri ht an les to retain the )arts in lace.

The hook 9 can be readily manipulated by reason of its free mounting in the spring 7,

and its beveled end permits its easy insertion 'in the eye of the coupling lock-pin 5. When the operator has determined the ,properadjustment of. bar 12 relatively to the arm 4 of the ro(-.-k-shaft S, the locking pin or bolt can be placed in position, as above explained, and

, there will be no possibility of accidental displacement. v Y

A. movement of the rock-shaft 3 first causes the spring 7 to be compressed until the tension of thospring issullirient to raise the coupling-lock. This is very essentiahas it is very often desirable to uneouplc when the couplings are subjected lo draft. or other strain, and it is necessary lo provide a colnpression-spring to store the power applied until the strain is overcome or relieved, 'prhenfthe spring will expand and raise the con} ling-pin and obviates any necessity for a bra eman entering between cars to uncouple re ardless of conditions. i

aving fully described my invention, wb at I claim asnew, and desire to secure by Lettees Patent, is 1 i}; A lock-lifter, comprising a spring, a re hook-bolt passing through said spring and connected to the upper end-thereof, a bar pe'ssing through the spring and connected w th the lower end thereof, and means for ad- :justably connecting said bar with an operativedevice. $2,.An unlocking device for car-con lings, compris a compression-spring, a ho t conflected wit the upper end of the spring and adapted to enga the. couplerelock, a bar 20 connected with t v e lower end of the spring j andprojectin'g up through the spring, and a bolt to .enter any of .a series of perforations in'said bar for connecting the-same with op 3 ferati means. t

:5 3. .1 unlocking device for car-couplings,

ieo'mpnsing a compression-spring, a bolt to fi gfllg'ethe coupling-lock, connected with the upper bnd of the spring, a bar passingthrough -U-shaped bar for connecting the device with operating means.

5. A lock-lifter comprising a spring, means, for connecting one end thereof with a coup-- ling-lock, a bar connected with the'other end of said s ring, and a bolt passing through said bar or attachmentof, operating means,

said bolt eom'prising vtwo parallel-members,

one longer than the other, the ends of the longer member provided with laterallyrojecting portions to prevent escape of the ar.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, I y

-THOMAS \WELCH Witnessesi FRANK M. SowLE,

E. FJPARKB. I 

